President Joe Biden this evening cleared up the confusion about what would qualify as a school reopening, saying reports that a school could be considered open if it opened only one day a week resulted from a “communication error”.
Biden was responding to a question from CNN’s Anderson Cooper, who asked, “Your administration has set a goal of opening most schools in the first 100 days. Now you’re saying that this means that these schools can only be open for at least one day a week. ”
Biden then intervened saying that there was an error in the way the standard was communicated.
“No, that is not true,” he said. “It was what was reported. It is not true. It was a communication error, but what I am talking about is that I talked about opening most schools in Jardim to 8th grade because they are the easiest to open, the most necessary to be opened in terms of impact on children and families who have to stay at home. “
Biden’s new administration last year promised to reopen “most of our schools” in the first 100 days, but then the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, qualified that one day a week would count as a reopening.
“The goal he set is that most schools – that is, more than 50% – are open by the 100th day of his presidency,” she said. “And that means some teaching in the classroom. So, at least one day a week. Hopefully, it is more. “
On Monday, a total of 28 states plus Washington, DC, began allowing all or some teachers and school staff to receive the Covid-19 vaccine.
Although some states have announced that they are prioritizing teachers, vaccine availability remains a concern across the country.
There are 22 states where teachers are not yet eligible to receive the vaccine as a specific group – although some educators may fall within the current age group that the state is vaccinating.
A little more context: The director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Sunday emphasized the need for masking and other mitigation measures to reopen schools safely, saying that “we have work to do” as teachers, students and parents continue to struggle against Covid-19 impact on education.
The CDC on Friday released its long-awaited guidelines for reopening schools that focus on five Covid-19 mitigation strategies: the universal and correct use of masks; physical distance; wash hands; cleaning facilities and improving ventilation; and contact, isolation and quarantine tracking. Vaccines and tests are not among the “main” strategies that the agency presents, calling them “additional layers” of Covid-19 prevention.
About 89% of children in the U.S. live in a county considered a red zone with high levels of Covid-19 transmission under the new school opening guidelines shared by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday , according to a CNN analysis of the federal data.
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